Coating apparatus



D. G. LANTZ 1,987,198

COATING APPARATUS Jan. 8, 1935.

3 Sheets-Shee t 2 Filed Nov. 14, 1952 Jan. 8, 1935. D. G. LANTZ COATING APPARATUS I Filed Nov. 14, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented 'Jan. 8, 1935 Maui? j v obATING Donald G. 1am, Anderson} Assam mesne assignments, vto ;GneialfMotoi's our notation, Delaware] Detroit, Mien; a cismaiatianyi r Application November 14, i932,-"seri ai-nm;-e4;54%

I Claims. (diaper) l This invention relates to eoating' apparatus and more particularly to apparatus {for coating the" recesses or impressicns of a design or e'ge'ne or b'oth in'control knobs, with a "contrasting su stance such as paint-in efd'ef visibly to disting'u ish the impressions from the back ground of the control knobs. I I Qfie Object of thefii-es'rit invention is to provide im rovements in-abbaffitiisfor eppiyifig" a 10 liniited amt-mt of contrasting substance-to that surface of each control-kr'i'c ibwhich contains-fine imiar ssions, 'an'il for' silbs'eqnefitly removing the substance fr'ohi the surrme my so that the si-1B stance in the recesses df ithe' iir'ipression's remains; l

to dry the substance in the impressions so as to form a substantially hard coat.

Another object ofthe"iiieserit invention is to provide a coating apparatns in which the various 201- mentioned. operations take .;p1a';e automatically while thecontrol knobs are carried v n n exe s by a continu- AnQi r wes .-0 {the :p es nt inmate to provide means-for automatieally removing the 26 finished. control knobs from the conveyor so that the services o1: :an operator are requiredfor workholder loading pnrposes;pn1y.-

invention willbe vapparent; from the; following 30 description, reference being had to :theuaccompanying drawings, wherein a-ipreferred emb'odimerit ofone :form of the -present invention .is-

clearly shovvn. I In the drawin iw 4, v a i v ""1. 1 a front view-ofa-control knob showing the impresse d legend and designjtobe contrastingly coated-by the presentsapparatus;

Figs;- 2 and :3 :are fragrnent-ery crosses'ectional views ,of a contro1.,-knob 7 showing the difierent 4W steps of operation in; applying ipaint: or :1i-ke'-su b-'-- stance to the impressions. i

Fig. 4 is a perspective view 'ofian apparatus such: as the I saint -conv yingand appiyihgfrdii, a

2; etc:

cover showing" v by atrews ee in Figl '7. r

A further object ofthe present iiivr'ftionis ther objects and advantages ofthe apresient" 1 1g:- "1 is a sectional view brine vat 't Hen att re "t 'of e n siin ih p lgh,

so A

material. Aspring 56, anchored with one end in the yoke 49 and with the other end in'frame work 42 has a tendency to rock the yoke 49 counter-clockwise as viewed in Figs. 5 and 7. As appears from Fig. '7, roll underany circumstances projects through an aperture 57 in a vat cover 58 and above said cover. v n

It may be stated in advance that through mechanism to be described later; roll 55 is rotated in response to rotation of the turntable 30 such manner that the rotative speed of the con trol knobs carried by the turntable 'rand; their general direction of movement is the same as that of the periphery of the roll 55.*-*As willbe noticed f in Fig. 5 the knob stems 34 have been so'inserted' into the clips 33 by an operator that 'the'knobs 20 abut the lower pair of clips thereby prohibiting any further upward movement of 'thestem's the clips. As a knob approaches the periphery of the roll 55, it slightly depresses said rolldue to the mentioned inability of the knob to yield upwardly. In this manner a bodily engagement of each knob. withthe roll 55 is assured. Roll 55'; whilerotating always carries a certain amount: of paint from the supply on its periphery,tdue to the'fa'ct that"the' "run under all circumstances dips into the paint supply, and upon substantial engagement between the surface 21 ofja control knob and the periphery of the roll, paint, will be applied to the former to such an extent that at least the area thereof which contains'the impressions is, completely painted, As the knob movesaway from the roIIQ'the'painted; surface; thereof engages a oame'shaped vane 59 which is part of ascratcherBO riveted at 61 to'thevat cover 58 and made preferably .inthelform era leaf spring; f As the paintedsurface of the knob 20 rides along the vane 59, the scratoher is slightly bent "until the painted; surface comes 1mm contact with the'scrat'chin'g 'surface'IGZf ofrthe scratcher 60, at which timethe latter has been bent to such an extent thatenough yielding force is stored in thescratcher to remove 'theentirle paint from the smooth surface ofjsaid knob, whereby only the paint inthe' impressions'22 re mains. As appearsjfrom Fig.9 the'niain part of the peripheral cross-Section of the roll 'is, 1ike,

that of the surface 21'of a knob and is interrupted only by an annular ridge 63the function of which will bepresently described. It is of primary importance'that'the surface 21' of a knob bodily'fc'ontactsiwitn the paint carried by lthe'rolla'ndif that surface wouldflbodily' contact I with the pe;

ri'ph'ery of the roll, the paint would "be squeezed" out between these two engaging Surfaces and the paint job would be 'very unsatisfactory. Inorder to overcome this disadvantage; the annularridge 63' has been provided which" is of such height that the surface21-of -the ,knob:is contacting with thebody of paint carried on the periphery of roll 55 but not with the periphery'fitselff Secured to the bottornof the vet is another scraper 64 which i iding' yi enea es the periphery) of the r01 55' and removes previously: conveyed paint and foreign substance therefromsothat only freshlpaint isfconve'yed by the roll. v r r t thehidden paint leveljfiorn dropping below the periphery of roll 55 without the operator's notice a floatingfdevice been provided whose stem V7 ll extends through a bush- I ing 72 in thevat cover .58 and qutsi'deithe vat thus visibly indicating the heightlof the paint llevel in "In order to preve the ,Ivat'. 1,. l

shown. Fig. 4', a pa e so iii position is secured-by metal bands 81 tolan up right bar 82 which is frame work 42. The tank communicates with secured by screws 83 to the V the interior of the vat through a tube or hose -shaft 93 isanotherpulley 94 which through a belt connection [95" drives a worm 96, in turn driving a worm gear 9'7 which is mounted on the vshaft 98; Mounted on "the same shaft is a small gear ,99meshing with an internal gear 100 which i is concentrically mounted on the turntable. Further mounted ,onshaft 98 is a pulley-l02 which through a shrunk beltconnection 103,guide,d-;0Yver, idlers104 drives, a pulley 105 which is mounted: on sha 81 @Sqb own in F g. 6. -,A1so mount-l ed on shaft;48 is a gear106 whichl meshesWith another gear 107 mounted on the roll carrying shaft 53. The ratios between gears'99y-and 100 and between pulleys 1Q2and 105 hav'e jbeen;,,so

selected that .the previously mentioned condi'- tion prevails to wit, the-rotatiye;speed of -the" control knob carried by the; turntable has to be the sarneas that of the periphery-of the roll; 55;. The drive is furthermore so constructed ,that the; nt knobs vca ,b h romeyor m e-rill;

thefsame generalldirectwn as, that portionjof the periphery of the paintroll engaging a con-' trol knob. m I

l paint dqgying device 7;

Referring particularlyto Figs. 4, 5 audit; ail-" arcuate L-shaped bracket-110 is'show'n supported} by'upright angle bars 111; Secured in'a'ny suit-" Pulley 91 is so i able manner on upright stems 1-12,*attaclied to* I the bracket-110 are a plurality of electricheating units 113 which may be Many-conventional type and are in the present instant ribbon wound resistance units connected in scrimparallel; No

further comment onth'e electrical part-ofithese heaters is deemed necessary because they do not form part ofthis invention; T In order: to prevent a burning of the I interior wall (if-"the arcuate" bracket 110,-the same is line'd' with asbestos 1141- Itiappears from Fig. -10 that shortly aftera knob passes the paint roll 55 and scraper 60,[.the1same will move into vertical alignment- -withthe first heating unit 113a and by thetime said knob passes thelast heating una nsb me paint in the impressions in knob surface 21: is hard-. If during the drying process a knob =lstem should for one reason or another A drop fiomFits clips it cannot fall ,uponthe heatingunits 'but will fall upon a wire screen 115 which-is located W g'unitslmr g mm r mova f' o seme ter- 18 uRefning Particularly to F 10; .a rstationaryg finger is mounted on a-vertical bar 121; is held stationary in any suitable manner. ger l e .be nthe ssing clips 33 and any suitablereceptacle (not the surface 122 thereof shifts the knob stems lat-g erally out frombetween the clips; whereupon they descend into 7' shown).

vious from the foregoing description nodetailed since the loperationpf the apparatus is obY- description of the operation is deemed necessary and is therefore omitted.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows; I

1. Apparatus for coating the depressions of a mark in the surface of an article comprising, in combination, a vat containing a supply of coating substance; a rotatable roll dipping into the substance supply, said roll upon rotation conveying a limited amount of substance and applying it to the marked surface including the depressions of an article when passing the roll; a spring for bodily moving the roll toward the article; means for holding the article and for moving it transverse to the direction of bodily movement of the roll whereby the marked surface of the article depresses the roll against the tendency of the spring; and a scraper of flexible metal whose scraping contour is substantially the same as the contour of the marked surface of the article, said scraper being slightly flexed against its tendency by the passing marked surface of the article whereby the substance on the marked surface is removed and the substance in the depressions remains.

2. Apparatus for coating the depressions of a.

mark in'the surface of an article comprising, in combination, a vat containing a supply of coating substance; a rotatable roll dipping into the substance supply, said roll upon rotation conveying a limited amount of substance and applying it to the marked surface including the depressions of an article when passing the roll; a'springfor bodily moving the roll toward the article; means for holding the article and for moving it transverse to the direction of bodily movement of the roll whereby the marked surface of the article depresses the roll against the tendency of the spring; and a scraper of flexible metal whose scraping contour is substantially the same as the contour of the marked surface of the article, said scraper having a protruding cam lug which when engaged by the marked surface of the passing article causes the scraper to flex slightly against its tendency so that the marked surface of the article is yieldingly engaged by the scraper for removing the substance from the said marked surface whereby the substance in the depressions remains.

DONALD G. LAN'I'Z. 

